YEAH

I enjoy designing and crafting paper crafts:

• They are fun to make and fun to give
• I am on two design teams and  make:cards, altered objects,and other   paper crafts
• People so love it when a homemade card or project is received

Since I am on two design teams and want to showcase their images and/or sentiments, I enter Blog Challenges. It is fun to see your project on other blogs. It is really wonderful when viewers leave a comment:) It is especially awesome when a prize is won, even if it is a random draw.

With that being said: I won at Dutch Dare this week. That entitles me to choose and receive 5 Robyn Fetish image...YEAH.  Only crafters now how exciting this can be!!!

Just felt that I had to share my good news!!!

Splashin Fun

I want to thank all of you who participated in my Birthday Blog Candy, especially all my new followers...I am almost at 200!!!!I have met so many blogger friends in the past two years:) Thanks for your words of encouragement and for visiting often. 

I also want to thank all of you who participated in our Happy Birthday challenge at Lexi's Creations.There were so many beautiful entries. I am glad that I did not have to choose a winner!

Our challenge for the next two weeks will be At the Beach.  I chose to use the image: Splashin Fun Ollie Duck.

This is a lollipop holder!! 

What child,or adult, wouldn't love a lollipop after swimming???

Here is the side view.

Couldn't make just one!!

These lollipop holders were so easy to make and I had fun coloring the delightful images.I honestly don't remember where I got the idea from. I did alter the original. I will try and explain how to make one.
Lollipop Holder
cut a piece of CS 8 1/2 inches long and 2 1/4 inches wide
fold this rectangle in half and score
turn the rectangle horizontal
from the left side, score  at 2 inches
from the right side score at 2 1/2 inches
now fold the CS into a triangle (look at second picture)
You will need to punch a hole on the fold so that the lollipop will poke through
decorate the front with your image or sentiment


I hope that this makes sense to you. If not, please leave me a comment and I will try and help you.

Materials used:

CS: Close To My Heart

Image: Lexi's Creations

Ribbon: Martha Stewart

Colored with Copic Markers

Glossy Accents used on the goggles

Thank you for taking the time to visit. I hope that I have inspired you to make a beach project, perhaps even a lollipop holder.When you have completed your beach inspired paper craft, just click HERE to enter our current challenge. Please feel free to leave a comment (I do read each one:) and/or follow this blog. I hope that you will find some time each day to do something fun and creative. Have a wonderful week. Hope to see you again soon.

I am sharing this lollipop holder with:
belli challenge: Anything but a card
the house that stamps built: Head for the beach
simon says stamps challenge: Anything but a card

artimpressionsstamps: Make us laugh
charisma cardz : summer
dutch dare-card challenges : Summer Fun
make it monday: Anything Goes
tammy scrapin corner: Anything Goes, an artist

Lucky Ladybug

I want to thank all of you who participated in my Birthday Blog Candy, especially all my new followers...I am almost at 200!!!!I have met so many blogger friends in the past two years:) Thanks for your words of encouragement and for visiting often. 

We have a great summer fun digi stamp kit to show off to you today.  It's called Summer Cuties stamps by Lil Ellaboudy Design.

Our theme for Challenge #131 is Bright Summer Colors!

So many wonderful choices. It was so difficult to decide! 

I know that a ladybug is a symbol of good luck and I made this shape card for a former student who just moved to a new state for her first career job. I know that she will appreciate receiving mail:)

I used tiny glass beads to add texture to the ladybug's spots.

The sentiment pulls from the bottom.

A close up of the sentiment.

Materials Used:

CS: Michael's

Microbeads: Recollections-Michael's

Thanks for stopping by this week. I hope that I have inspired you to create a summer paper craft. When you have created your Bright Summer Color project, You can click HERE to enter our current challenge. Please feel free to follow this blog and/or leave a comment. (I do read each comment:) I hope that you will find a few minutes, or more, each day to do something that you enjoy. Have a wonderful week.

I am sharing my ladybug card with:
crafts and me challenges: Anything Goes
word art wednesday: Use an encouraging or uplifting sentiment
craft your passion challenges: Things with Wings
fashionista challenge: Winged Things
incy wincy designs: Anything Goes
love to create challenge: Anything Goes
make it monday: Anything Goes
stamp and create blog : Bold and Bright
totally stamp a licious: Red and White and?
cute daisy may: things with wings
dream valley challenges: things with wings

Birthday Blog Candy

A huge thank you to all who have visited this blog during the past 16 days

( and perhaps the past two years). I put all the names in a box and drew the following name late last night. 

June 20th was a special day...our 25th wedding anniversary! Twenty five years married to my best friend, time surely goes quickly when you are having fun:) 

I hope that you will continue to visit and that I inspire you to be creative. Hugs, Barbara

Announcement: The Lucky Winner of my:

 Birthday Blog Candy

is

Tammy Lee!!

Tammy, please E Mail me with your address so I can mail this wonderful package of crafting supplies.

Independence Day

.Are you ready for some true summer colors and fun?  If you said yes, you are going to be really excited about this weeks featured set, Fourth of July Party by Riefka Design!

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/Independence Day, a national holiday, is celebrated in the U.S. on July 4th. 

I decided to step "out of the box" and alter an easel. It was so easy with these images. Just size and print!

Using Word , I posted the sentiment on the image before printing.I added some Stickles to the stars, ribbon and gems... a nice table decoration for June-July:)

Our design team created some inspiring projects for you showing off this set. Just  click Here to see them.

Materials Used:

Easel: Michael's dollar bin

Images: My Grafico

Stickles, ribbon, gems: Michael's

Thank you for taking the time to visit this blog. I do appreciate all the comments my blogging friends leave:) My follower are near the 200 mark!!! I am so excited. If you like what you see and don't want to miss any projects, please consider becoming a follower:) I hope that I have inspired you to create your own Independence Day project. I plan on making a card or two also,using this set. Remember that you don't need a machine that will cut SVG files. I cut them out with scissors. The nicest part is that these images are precolored so I can spend more time thinking about layouts and embellishments. 

Tomorrow, Summer officially begins,,,but today surely feel like summer with a 90 degree day and oppressive humidity. Who's complaining, most of our year we are cold!! Have a wonderful week. 

Remember,our current challenge at My Grafico is a graduation challenge that you can join in on!  Click HERE to link up your project.

I still have blog birthday candy available. Just scroll down and leave a comment. June 20, 2012 if the last day to leave a comment. Good luck!!

I am sharing this paper project with:

divas by design challenge: summer theme
my mums craft shop challenges : Clean and simple
paper pretties blog: Red, white, blue
delightful sketches: For the boys
do you stack up: For a man or boy
samuel taylors.blogspot: Red, white, blue
clear it out challenge: anything goes, with two or more ribbons
the poodles parlour: Red, white, blue
the secret crafter saturday challenge: Red, white, blue
robyns fetish challenge blog: anything Goes
the squirrel and the fox: Make it sparkle
make it monday: Anything Goes

Birthday Card

We want to thank everyone who participated in the last Lexi's Creation challenge. We had so many awesome entries. I am glad that I didn't have to choose a winner:) Are you ready for the next challenge? This is an easy one: Birthday~You can make a birthday paper craft for anyone you choose... easy...right?

Here is the card I chose to make using a sentiment from Lexi's store on the inside of this card:

This is quite a simple card, just many layers.

Here is a close up view of the front wreath:

Here is the inside with the sentiment from Lexi's store:

You can see that there are three patterened designer papers:

One is the green print triangle, the pink dotted paper and under the ribbon is a coordinating stripe of pink and green. I layered the ribbon over the striped paper. The wreath was stamped first then I added the pink flowers and the sentiment.  The corner rounder was used on two sides then the edges were distressed in a light green chalk before layering this, also on the pink dotted paper.You will see that some glitter was added on the edges of the green floral paper. Finally, vintage lace and pink rhinestones were added.

Materials Used:

Stamp: Close to My Heart, layering stamp

Inks: CTMH

DP, rhinestones, glitter: Michael's

Ribbon: a gift from a blog buddy

Lace: Vintage

I am so glad that you stopped for a quick visit. I hope that I have inspired you in some small way to be creative. I would love for you to leave a comment and let me know what you are thinking. I really do enjoy reading all the wonderful words from my blogging friends. Please feel free to follow this blog, if you like what you see. 

I have birthday blog candy! Just scroll down a few posts and leave a comment. This will close on June 20, 2012.

I am sharing this card with:

crafts and me challenges: Lace
the paper shelter: Go Dotty
truly scrumptious challenge: Flower Power
willow sketchie challenge: sketch 
pixie dust studio pixie challenge : Three or more patterned papers: pink dot, green floral, green and pink stripe
shellys images blog: Bling
craft punked: Birthday/celebration
all sorts challenge: ice cream colors
drunken stampers: What's your angle
hiding in my craft room: Super Scraps Saturday
robyns fetish challenge blog : Add some lace
ribbon girls : Use ribbon or lace (I used both!)
chalk n stock.blogspot: Use chalk somewhere on the card

Graduation Day

 Hello, My Grafico friends.Thank you for participating in our last challenge: Father's Day.  We are now ready for a new challenge: GRADUATION!!

It's  that time of the year for Graduations: college, high school, pre school etc. I have several on my list to make cards for too! The following My Grafico set might make it a little easier for you to complete your cards and/or scrapbook pages.

Challenge #130 is Graduation!

This is a fun set from Cupcake Cutiees 

Our Design Team has some marvelous paper projects to inspire you. Just click Here to check them out. 

This week I just had to try making a scrapbook page for a dear friend. I did have a little guidance but think that it looks just like I imagined it.

In the upper right is the sentiment from the featured set: "Graduation Day." The background paper is from the featured  My Grafico set from last week: 

I could have added more embellishment but I wanted this to be simple so that the picture was the focus element in this page design. Once I had the picture and the background paper, it was so simple to design the page. I just moved the elements around until they were pleasing to me. (I have to admit that I did have some anxiety  but a friend walked me through it. You might just see more scrapbook pages in the near future:)

Materials Used:

My Grafico: Sentiment & background script DP

Michael's: Cardstock, ribbon, polka dot DP, border embellishment

Computer Generated: 2012

Clip Art: Circle with RIT- copied from the RIT website

Jelly roll pen: orange tassel on top graduation hat

I am so glad that you stopped for a visit. I hope that I have inspired you to make a graduation card for someone special and/or a graduation scrapbook page. I hope that you will take a moment and leave a comment, I really do love reading your thoughts. Please feel free to follow this blog, if you like what you see.

I have Birthday Candy!!

Just scroll down and leave a comment. It will be available until June 20, 2012.

I am sharing this paper craft with:

scrap a licioususa: Graduation
moving along with the times: Anything but a card
scrap it with a song: Song: "My Wish" by Rascall Flatts
joyful stamper: Anything Goes

Birthday Blog Candy

It's my PARTY and I can SHINE if I want to!!  YES, TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!! It is a milestone birthday and I am too vain to tell you how many years:) I began posting on this blog on April 11, 2010. I was so excited to have one person leave a comment!! Now I am so pleased that 191 crafters are now following me. WOW!!


So..it is time for me to treat all my loyal followers to some candy. I want to thank all of you for visiting regularly and commenting on my posts. I have been on several design teams so you might notice that my style has changed??? I feel I have grown as a crafter and you have been so kind to me throughout this creative process. I truly enjoy reading all your kind comments and visiting your blogs. I have learned so much from all of you. I hope that I have inspired you in some small way.


If you are reading this post and are not a follower:

•  I would love for you to become one. However, please don't follow me and never return or comment, it just makes me sad:( 
• I would love for you to repost on your blog, sidebar, facebook....However that also is not necessary. 
• I just want to share some new crafting materials with you for being my loyal blogger friends.( I could not get all of this in one picture.)

Blog Candy:

Since I do not have a linky account, please leave a comment. The last day to enter for this candy is June 20, 2012-another important day for me. This will be a random drawing. Please check back on June 21, 2012 to see if you have won. Good Luck!!

Barbara

Graduation money holder

Welcome My Grafico Friends. We have some awesome scrapbook and card papers to share with you this week. These papers are so perfect for this time of the year. I plan on using them for all my graduation cards and scrapbook pages.

I need several graduation cards this year. I decided to make a money holder for a recent college graduate.

To open, just slide off the band:

Yes, I will be putting more thatn $1 in the envelope!!

You can find the instructions for making this money holder at: Reasonable Ribbon Blogspot. The post was on May 31st. It too is a simple project.  RIT  is: Rochester Institute of Technology. A renown school in our area. 

Materials Used:

Cardstock, ribbon: Michael's

DP: My Grafico

RIT: Computer Clip Art

Sentiment: Computer Generated

Graduation Hat: My Grafico

Twine: is actually a piece of burlap string!

I plan on making several of these in the graduate's school colors. I have this great idea to use this template for a wedding shower too. Hmm...not a bad idea!! I hope you have enjoyed my paper project. Please feel free to leave a comment and/or follow this blog.

I am sharing this paper craft with:
make it monday: Anything Goes
crafting for all seasons: Many Layers
here come the boys blog challenge: For the men/boys
platypus creek digitals: For the boys
sj paper crafts : All about the boys, plus something from stash: black cardstock
joyful stamper: Anything Goes

Tool Time

It is indeed a marvelous Memorial Day Monday! It is also time for a new challenge at My Grafico. Our new challenge involves honoring dad for Father's Day. This week our theme centers around tools. If you know of someone who is handy, this is a perfect set that you will use time and time again. Here are the images we were given to use.

Luckily I had a design in mind:

This could be a tag for a gift but I am using it as a card. I just glued the edges of the tag together to insert the sentiment:

Just flip the wrench and pull down!

Here is a close up of the sentiment: Happy Father's Day...Dad

Here is another close up of the top of the tag card.

I could have used more of the tool but decided not to distract from the To Do list.

I love the screw brads on the corners and the cork DP. What do you think?
Our Design Team has created some awesome projects. Just click HERE to view them:)

Materials used:

Card: Recollections from Michael's

Ribbon& DP: Michael's

Brads: From a craft show I attended

Sentiment: Computer Generated

This too was a simple card due to the awesome digi stamps from My Grafico. I could have added so much more to this card but I wanted to show you just how simple a thoughtful card can be. The most difficult part is thinking about the design!
I hope that I have inspired you to create a project for Father's Day. When you are ready to enter your paper craft just click HERE.

Thank you for visiting this blog:) Please feel free to leave a comment and/or follow. If you are a follower, you won't miss a coming, exciting, fantastic post!! Stay Tuned...

I am entering this card into the following challenges:.
Wednesday Challenges:
lil red wagon: Father's Day Card
pennys challenges: Anything Goes
simon says stamps challenge: Father's Day/special man
Thursday Challenges:
charisma cardz: No flowers allowed
moving along with the times: Celebration-Father's Day
Monday Challenges
make it monday: Anything Goes

For the Man/boy in your Life

We want to thank all of you who participated in the recent Lexi's Creation Challenge: Black and White and one other color. What awesome entries we had.

Our current challenge, for the next two weeks, is for the man/boy in your life. Here is my card:

I chose to design a Father's Day card for the man in my life.

The card design is a Stair Step Card, you can easily find a template with instructions on Splitcoast Stampers. It is one of the easiest cards to make and I have to admit that I do use this design often. I have not colored too many images lately and really enjoyed coloring this darling image from: Lexi's Design Studio. I think that the green grass DP brings it all together. The golfer image was cut from a Spellbinder's die then I used a little artistic leeway and cut it down to fit the card design. It was backed with the green CS and the edges were distressed. The edges of the grass DP were also distressed.

Materials Used:

DP: Michael's

Image: Lexi's Creations

Golf ball on the tee and golf shoes: free clip art

"Happy Father's Day" sentiment: computer generated

"You're The Best" image: Fiskar stamp

Distressing Ink: Tim Holtz

Coloring: Copic Markers

Our Design Team has some awesome project posted on our challenge blog. Just click HERE to view them.

Thank you for visiting this blog. I hope that I have inspired you to create a card for a man/boy in your life. Perhaps you will enjoy making a Stair Step Card too.When you have completed your project just click HERE to enter our current challenge.  Please feel free to leave a comment and/or follow this blog. You won't want to miss a wonderful, exciting, awesome post that will soon be coming!!! Stay tuned...

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
cards for men: card for a man/boy
crafty cardmakers : Distress it
Thursday Challenges:
aud sentiments challenge blog :Must include a sentiment
.charisma cardz: No flowers allowed
sassy studio designs: Hats off to you, must include a hat in the design
Friday Challenges:
cas-ual fridays: CAS masculine cards using designer paper
crafty catz weekly challenge: Card for a man
fairytale-challenge blog: Card for a man/boy
Sunday Challenge:
here come the boys blog challenge: Anything Goes
Monday Challenge:
make it monday:Anything Goes
simon says stamp and show: One for the boys

Pink Poodles in Paris

If you have not entered your paper craft at My Grafico Crafts...it is not too late.The theme for Challenge #128 is BLAST OFF! This does not mean that your project need to be a space theme. Think creatively!!!!

One winner will receive this cute space digital kit from Kelly Medina Studios

The design team came up with some creative ideas to share with you.  This kit has so many possibilities and we all had a great time playing with it! last week, I posted a card that I had made using this digital kit.( You can see it in a former post.) Well, I had another amazing idea, so I chose to use it again in designing a card for my grandson's 13th birthday. Yes, he really is 13 and he says that he indeed feels older now!!!

This a a slanted easel card.

Here is the side view.

Materials Used:

Image: My Grafico Crafts

Bright circular cardstock: Office Max

Coloring: space ship-copic markers; 

blast off-Gelly Roll Pens; 

dots on the bright green and stars on the sentiment- Gelly Roll Glitter Pen

Happy Birthday stamp:CTMH

Glitter: Martha Stewart

Black Cardstock and gold dots: Michael's 

 This was really an easy card to create. He was intrigued by the card design!!! That's a lot from a teenage boy LOL.

This week, the digital set was equally charming. I had so much fun with this set too.

Here is the Stair Step Card that I designed using this set:

Isn't this just the cutest? I could have added more bling but I wanted to show how easy it is to make a card by just using the elements in the kit. The directions for this Stair Step Card can be found on Splitcoast Stampers.  I chose to add a pink and black awning to the shop, added a name to the "tea room," placed the poodle in the window and added 'Let's Make a Date' to the pink tag. 

Materials used:

Images: My Grafico Crafts

Cardstock, yarn, DP, rhinestones, flower: Michael's

Punch: Martha Stewart

Sentiments: Computer Generated

Here is a side view of this card.

I am sure that you have been thinking of someone and missing them!! How about getting together soon. I hope that I have inspired you to create a Stair Step Card, they are super easy. Perhaps you will want to make a card to show someone that you care about them? If   I have inspired you, please let me know. I would love to visit your blog. 

Thank you for taking the time to stop and visit. I hope that you will consider leaving a message and /or following this blog. Have a wonderful week. Enjoy the lovely spring weather.

When you are ready to post your card to the My Grafico Blog, just click HERE.

I am sharing this card with:

make it monday: Anything Goes

paper playtime: Friendship cards

crazy challenge: 3D project

vo stamps: Thinking of you

cute daisy may: Shape it!

divas by design challenge: tickled pink

paper craft bliss: Black and one other color-pink

sassy studio designs: Use three of something: rhinestones

It's Time to Celebrate

I find it challenging to craft a "manly" card. No fancy ribbon, lace, bling.... For this card, my inspiration was the DP and the stamps.

The main image and sentiment is a dollar stamp from Michael's. I stamped on pale yellow with black ink then distressed the edges. I love the DP behind the watch, it is difficult to see but it has gears on it :) The other two DP were from my collection. The Jan. stamp is a CTMH stamp that I just received and the ribbon is also from Michael's

Here is a photo of the inside. Not sure why the left edge appears curved? Must be the camera angle.

I really need to make more "manly " cards to have on hand...soon.

Precious Friends

We want to thank all of you who joined us in our last challenge at Lexi's Creations: Ribbon and Lace. We had so many marvelous entries. If you are curious about the lucky winner, just click HERE.
Now we are ready for another challenge: Black, White and one other color. This may be easy for some of you and for some 'colorful' bloggers this just might be a challenge. Remember just one other color in addition to black and white. I chose to use the daisy digital stamp and the supplemental color is silver.

This shows the front of my card. I use several different sizes of this Spellbinders die. then distressed the flower layer. All of the layers were placed in increasing size and placed on black distressed cardstock. The cardstock was also distressed with silver ink. I added texture to the daisy using flocking powder on the leaves and stickles to the center of the flower. 

Here is the inside of my card with this precious sentiment. It was also cut from the same Spellbinders die and edged with a silver paint pen. This black cardstock was also distressed with silver before adding the sentiment.  Notice that stickles was added to the butterfly.

Materials Used:

Image and Sentiment: Lexi's Creations

Cardstock and DP: Michael's

Silver ink, ribbon and paint pen:Michael's

Thank you for visiting this blog.I hope that you enjoyed looking at my papercrafts and that I have inspired you to think "outside the box." It is amazing what just a little distressing can do for a simple project. Have a wonderful week and please take a few minutes each day to do something you enjoy. When you have completed your black and white paper project, just click HERE to enter the current challenge.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
make it monday: Anything Goes
addicted-to-stamps-challenge: Black, White and ?(silver)
pile it on challenge: Clean and Simple
the squirrel and the fox: One for the Girls
2 sisters challenge blog: Make it Girlie
creations by gill m: Stripes and Spots
do it with digis challenge: Clean and Simple

Happy Birthday Earthling

We want to thank you for the many wonderful entries in the Mother's Day Challenge #127 at My Grafico Crafts.  You can click Here to view the darling winner.

The theme for the current Challenge #128 at My Grafico Crafts is:

 BLAST OFF!

One winner will receive this cute space digital kit from Kelly Medina Studios

The design team came up with some  very creative ideas to share with you.  This kit has so many possibilities and we all had a great time playing with it! Take a peek HERE and let yourself be "inspired". 

This is such a "fun" digital kit. I made a birthday card for this post but have several other projects planned. So, stop back later in the week :)

This card photographs a little dark. In natural light it is quite sparkly. I copied the alien and the planet on green and yellow card stock respectively, then fancy cut them. The stars are from CTMH, stamped on blue with gold ink then cut out. The sentiment is also a CTMH stamp.

This is the inside of the card, which makes it so unique. The sentiment is computer generated and the star is CTMH.

Materials Used:

Cardstock:  Royal Blue and Shimmery Blue-Michael's

Glitter: Michael's

Micro beads: Recollections-Michael's

Gold Ink: Michael's

Images: My Grafico

Sentiment: CTMH

Sentiment "Earthling"-Computer Generated

Thank you for stopping to visit this blog. I hope that I have inspired you to create something "Out of this world!" I would love it if you would leave a comment and tell me what you think. I do read each one:) Please feel free to follow this blog. You won't want to miss any of my posts!!!Have a wonderful week and please take some time to enjoy the wonderful spring weather and stop and smell the flowers:)

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Wednesday Challenges:
divas by design challenge: One for the Boys
the paper shelter: Anything Goes
whimsy inspires: Add dimension
Thursday Challenges:
pixie dust studio pixie challenge: One for the boys
do it with digis challenge: Clean and Simple
Friday Challenges"
clearly i stamp: What comes up must come down!
crafty catz weekly challenge: Happy Birthday
forever night challenges: Anything Goes, how dark can you go?
the poodles parlour: Anything Goes